arsenal's problem

two losses in a row, seventeen dropped points already this season, a rash of injuries again: it's hard to deny that the arsenal are in a bad way.

george graham tells us that the problem is leadership, and to some extent i agree -- to a large extent actually. but old george didn't mention that the leadership is required because of the team's piss poor morale. it is hard to avoid the fact that the team's morale is shit. but none of us should be surprised, and i certainly don't blame them. over the last couple of years they have lost the champion's league final, some of their best teammates (vieira, bergkamp, pires and campbell -- three of whom were leaders in their own right) and their stadium. that's a lot to lose in a short time.

then couple that with the fact that henry made it to the world cup final and lost (how is our captain supposed to be anything other than bitter and gloomy after a year like that?), and the following players all played in the world cup: cesc, toure, eboue, mad jens, rosicky, gallas, senderos, djourou, ljungberg, adebayor, gilberto and van persie. that's not necessarily a good excuse considering that man utd and chelsea both had a shitload of players at the competition too, but those teams didn't have the other shit to compound the problems.

so for all those reasons morale is low, and the man who has to be dragging gunner morale back to the positive is their captain -- theirry henry. but the truth is -- as i've been saying all along -- that henry is not a good captain. i fucking love him, but the armband has to pass on to someone else. he has yet to be a good captain, and now that he's rightfully depressed and frustrated his place as captain is impossible.

just watch a game, any game. henry never inspires. we go down a goal and he focuses inward, trying to focus on his game and score a goal. but a captain can't do that (even though that is obviously what theirry needs to do), so i think it is simple. pass the armband to the man who inspires: gilberto silva. that way henry can concentrate on himself, as he needs to, and gilberto can become the official anchor of the team, which will add credibility and effectiveness to his already impressive attempts to inspire.

in both losses this week it was gilberto who did his damndest to suck arsenal back into the game. his bombing runs up the center led to the only goal against bolton and the most inspiring chance of the game against fulham (and what did henry do when gilberto made the latter run? he gave him shit for not passing the ball, which was barely possible under the circumstances).

so in the end i almost agree with george about leadership. we DO need new leadership, but i think we have it already. make gilberto the captain, pass the backup duties to toure or mad jens, and let henry worry about henry. that, i believe, will lead to improved morale and a return to winning ways.

and then, maybe someday soon, the armband can pass on to the man i think will eventually wear it best...but i'll save that for another day.